John Askey will be hoping his side can bounce back from Saturday's defeat by making it back-to-back home wins when the Valiants welcome Exeter City to Vale Park this evening. You can find all of the key information regarding the game, below.
Fixture: Port Vale v Exeter City
Competition: Sky Bet League Two
Date: Tuesday 28th January 2020
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Venue: Vale Park
Referee: Paul Marsden
Port Vale
Manager: John Askey
Form: DWLWL
Top Goal Scorer: Tom Pope (7 goals)
The Valiants return to Vale Park this evening where they have lost just once in the league all season, and John Askey will be hoping his side can pick up where they left off 10 days ago and claim another three points at home.
Despite their recent defeat away to Swindon, Askey's side have fared well against the promotion-chasing sides, having beaten three of the current top four at some stage this season, so Askey's side will no doubt remain unconcerned about Exeter's league position.
Askey will still be without midfielder, Jake Taylor, who remains sidelined with an injury along with Adam Crookes and Emmanuel Oyeleke who have returned to training yet are not match fit. However, Tom Pope will once again be available after serving his one-match ban.
“We were well below par today for our standards, and we want to eradicate that quickly and Tuesday can’t come quick enough now.”
Shaun Brisley, Port Vale Defender
Exeter City
Manager: Matt Taylor
Form: DWWWD
Top Goal Scorer: Ryan Bowman (11 goals)
The Grecians have enjoyed an excellent season so far in League Two, and currently sit second in the division just two points off Swindon on top, yet Taylor’s side do have a game in hand over the Robins and could go top this evening.
Exeter have not suffered a defeat in the league since 2nd November 2019 away to Bradford City, and have won five of their last six in all competitions which includes an impressive win against League One side Ipswich Town in the Leasing.com Trophy. The Grecians also travel to Vale Park with a good record against the Valiants in recent years, losing just one of their last seven against Vale.
Exeter have made a January addition in the form of Brennan Dickenson who made his debut against Grimsby 10 days ago. Nigel Atangana remains unavailable as he still has one game left of his three-match ban and Lee Holmes and Alex Fisher are doubtful.
One to watch: Ryan Bowman
Ryan Bowman is a man in form for the Devonshire outfit, with five goals in his last ten in all competitions, and with 11 for the season he is the Grecians’ top scorer so far this season.
Bowman spent his youth days at hometown club, Carlisle United, and made his professional debut for the club in 2010 before being released a year later. The forward then spent the majority of his time at numerous non-league clubs, along with stint at York City in-between who were in League Two at the time.
The 28-year-old then went north of the border to join Scottish club, Motherwell, in 2016 where he then spent two-and-a-half-years before earning a move back to the football League with Exeter back in January 2019. He has now made 40 league appearances for Exeter, scoring 15 goals in the process.
Talk
John Askey: “All we can do is learn from this game, it’s no use sulking and getting down about it, we’ve got to learn from it and then on Tuesday we’ve got to perform."
Matt Taylor: "Any game at this stage of the season will be tough. They are a good team and their home record is really good."
Coverage
iFollow The Vale will be providing full 90-minute commentary from the match, whilst the Port Vale Twitter and Facebook feeds will be providing live updates for the entirety.
You can watch the game LIVE from your home by purchasing the iFollow video Match Pass for £10
There will also be the build-up to the game with the official Snapchat and Instagram accounts: officialpvfc
Reaction will be available on the official website post-match, as well as on YouTube, iFollow and social media.